Are blue eyes really the most common eye colour in the U.K.?

[JuliTooley]

In my Sunday boredom I googled U.K. eye colour breakdown. I found a study from a few years ago that found blue eyes were the most common. Break down as follows:

Blue - 48%
Green - 30%
Brown - 22%

In contrast 90% of the world’s population has brown eyes 👀

Am I the only one surprised by this? I could have sworn brown was the most common and green was the rarest? I’m really not sure I believe it, especially as it misses out hazel.

It also said blue numbers are increasing due to natural selection.

Maybe my experience has been skewed by living exclusively in London and the South East all my life. Do these stats fit in with your experience?

It does in my household

I have green
Dh has blue
Ds has blue
Dd has green/blue

There’s no way green eyes are more prevalent than brown eyes. I’ve only ever known one person with green eyes.
I’d say there’s an equal amount of blue/brown (maybe slightly more blue), then hazel, then very rarely green.

Surely not....

I thought it was brown too, as brown always wins the genetic lottery. I have green eyes but both my kids are brown, same as their dad.

True of my household now, mine are brown, DH's are blue, DC1's blue and DC2's green, but growing up my family and our close relatives all had brown eyes.

I have blue eyes, the same as my parents, so does my daughter, her dad has brown eyes.

Hard to believe but we have

Grandparents
2 blue 2 brown
Married as an opposite pair

Parents
2 brown

Kids
2 brown

I have hazel eyes and that's not even on the list

My parents, brown and blue.
Their children, brown, blue, green, green, blue.

Me green, DH brown (his parents brown and blue)
Our children, brown and blue.

DH has blue/grey
DDs and I have brown

My parents both have blue.... so me having brown is unusual (but not impossible, despite what my biology teacher said)

Seems unlikely. We're pretty diverse aren't we, and almost all black and Asian people are brown eyed, plus a hefty proportion of white people. I think they must have got that wrong.

Although dh and both dc have blue eyes so does the cat

Can't be right - blue is recessive so if you have brown and blue genes together brown will win. Can't be less common than blue surely

There is absolutely no way this is even halfway accurate. Brown eyes are way the most prevalent everywhere! Don't know about Scotland or Ireland, but definitely not in England or wales.
Anyway, I don't remember any professional ever noting down any of my family's eye colours.
Made up balderdash.

My parents had brown eyes (dad) and blue eyes (mum). I have Hazel eyes.
My DH has blue/grey eyes
DD has Hazel
Ds has blue

I'm also surprised blue is the midt common and agree green eyes are really rare.

I always say I have blue - given the binary choice of blue or brown.

They're actually grey with a very thin pale brown ring around the pupil.

Having done some research (google) I appear to have heterochromia.

I struggle to believe that's the case, but in my own household I am the only child of blue eyed parents and have blue eyes myself. My DH has brown eyes but our DCs have blue eyes. I think DH's father and brother had brown and his mother had hazel coloured eyes.

It sounds right to me just from looking around at people. If two blue eyed people have a baby, the baby will always have blue eyes (or green which I think is just a variant of blue) so it seems natural that most people in the UK have blue eyes. I know nothing about statistics or probability though, this is just my feeling.

Well between me, dp, the kids,my parents and my brother, 5 have blue,2 brown and one a mix of all colours.

blue is recessive so if you have brown and blue genes together brown will win.

Not necessarily.

I have blue

Df has blue

Dm has brown

DH hazel

Mil green

Dfil hazel

Dd - green
Ds - hazel
Dd hazel

Dgd - brown

2 dark brown and 1 green here.

My family growing up was 3 brown, one green and one pale blue

I know loads of people with blue eyes I thought it was very common.

Mine are green! Are they really rare? Wow I've never had anything rare in my life how exciting

@Bettybantz

I thought it was brown too, as brown always wins the genetic lottery. I have green eyes but both my kids are brown, same as their dad.

Not necessarily, both of my parents have brown eyes and mine are blue. They also have olive skin and black hair whilst im fair and blonde. Genetics can be weird sometimes!

DH has grey eyes, and I have Heterochromia (different coloured eyes. In my case 1 blue, 1 green). We don’t even make the list!

Dc has blue eyes though.